Meet the Artists: Sam Johnson and Bruno Letizia

You've read about Cabra Cini: Voodoo Junkie Hitwoman.

How about a look at the creative geniuses behind the hit?

Meet Sam Johnson and Bruno Letizia

Sam Johnson

Cabra Cini creator/writer Sam Johnson studied Creative Writing for Film & TV, came Second in a Wizard Writers Talent Search contest, and runner-up in AK Comics’ writers talent search. He started to make his mark in comics over the last few years,
 and is best known for Geek-Girl…
ALL IMAGES CLICK LARGER



When 'Little Miss Popular' Ruby Kaye lands a pair of super-tech glasses--invented by brainiac college geek Trevor Goldstein--in a game of Strip Poker, she's granted flight, super-strength, and--due to a flaw in the glasses' programming--super-klutziness.
Also from Sam…

Ms. F

Downtrodden housewife turned unhinged super-heroine Ms. F takes on grotesque racial stereotype-perpetuating Mr. Wang in
 'Sweet & Sour Smackdown!'

 Gold Town

Forced out of town due to bad debts, whiteboy wannabe-gangsta Pete the Pimp and his new (and sole) employee Billie relocate to
Gold Town--a place steeped in urban legend--where Pete has an exotic and mysterious encounter...



Bruno Letizia

Cabra Cini artist Bruno Letizia has previously worked on Interferenza: a comic book re-adaptation of the themes found in Mauro Garofalo's novel Iolavorointivù (Iworkintelly). After having been used to help launch the novel, this short story is now available for free on Apple's app store. ‘When you work in television and your format has been cancelled, what are you willing to do to get back at your bosses?'

Bruno also saw a story he illustrated, Fall of the Fortress, published in issue #3 of Mark Millar's Clint Mag recently. This short story follows the never ending fall of a shot down B-52 flying fortress.

Bruno is currently working on his first Graphic Novel.

For more on their comics, check
 out Sam and Bruno’s Blogs:
http://samjohnson-comics.blogspot.com/
Where you can download/read online Digital Visions #4 FREE.

http://brunoletizia.blogspot.com/
 
And you can also add them on Facebook:
Sam or Bruno
 
That's what we like to see, everyone playing nicely.
These two talented artists own the playground.
Join the team and let us know what you think.
See ya.
 
 

Read more »

Wake up folks!

PRESS RELEASE:

Cabra Cini: Voodoo Junkie Hitwoman makes her color debut in Visionary Comics’ Digital Visions #4!

New up-and-coming writer Sam Johnson (Geek-Girl, Gold Town) and artist Bruno Letizia (CLiNT Mag, Interferenza) introduce us to a bizarre new world of horror!

“Cabra Cini is a character close to my heart, whom I have big plans for,” says Sam. “There’s a one-shot already in the can, illustrated by Fernando Melek & Gaston Zubeldia, but this story--‘Voodoo Trespass’--is where Cabra makes her debut--and we’re thrown headlong into her twisted world.”

A world where Cabra, an ex-crack whore, has cleaned up her act and, for horrific reasons--revealed in Digital Visions #4--become a hitwoman. “But not just any hitwoman,” Sam adds; “Voodoo is a weapon Cabra employs--along with her array of blades and guns--and she’s developed her own bastardized version of the art: which she uses to dramatic effect in carrying out her hits."

“One of the ways she uses it is to access a dimension known as ‘The Infinity’--Limbo’s ‘crazy cousin--locked away in the attic’--which can serve as a dimensional gateway between where you are and wherever you want to go. Though, with what the ruler of The Infinity throws at its trespassers, the journey can come at a monstrously high cost, as Cabra--hired by bereaved parents to take out the guy who killed their daughter,‘playing vampire’--is about to learn…”


Digital Visions #4 also features:

Deity: The Darkness and the Light #0 by Karl Altstaetter & Robert Napton. An interdimensional war wages for the very fate of reality. Our only hope? A sixteen-year-old Earth girl. Can she survive the dangers of 2027 Los Angeles and avoid vicious aliens long enough to fulfill her destiny? Picking up where the first Deity series left off, this ‘jump-on’ story will introduce newcomers to both old evils and brand new ones!

Gangland Avalon by A. David Lewis, Michael Angelo Lee & Chuck Bordell. Sit in on a tense meeting with the Cavalieres and the Moores as they discuss control of the town. And this is a mob meeting with a difference, as both families aren’t just packing guns, they’re wielding magic!

Digital Visions #4. 30 pages. Suggested for Mature Readers. Available to read online or download FREE
at http://samjohnson-comics.blogspot.com/

CCU will review Cabra Cini: Voodoo Junkie Hitwoman as found in the pages of  Visionary Comics’ Digital Visions #4 this
Wednesday the 26th. Please spread the word and tell us what you think.
 
Stand By...

Read more »

A Belly Full of Art

“Webcomics: What’s Cooking?

Comic artists doing their part

to help the less fortunate.”

Written By: Carlo Jose San Juan, MD

It started out as a quirky idea between a few webcomic aficionados. Then, like many good ideas before it, that moment of quirkiness quickly became an inspiring movement involving many popular comic artists!

That idea is Webcomics: What’s Cooking?, a cookbook which features full-page, food-related comics by over fifty webcomic creators and artists with accompanying recipes to various dishes. The range of included recipes is quite diverse, featuring dishes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks as well as various beverages. This makes it quite likely that you’d find food to fit any taste bud at any time, in any mood!

 That alone already seemed like a great idea. However, what really got everyone involved passionate about it was that this was a not-for-profit project! Proceeds from the cookbook sales are for the benefit of National Food Banks in Canada and the USA.
At the time of this writing, these are the wonderful artists involved in this comic cookbook (in no particular order):

CLICK HERE FOR LIST

Spirited by the notion of not only showcasing their talent but to bring fun recipes to families and help bring hope to the less fortunate as well, these creators have combined thousands of hours of work to make this project a possibility! Furthermore, it features an incredibly diverse array of artistic styles. There is nothing out there quite like it and is a gem of an addition to any comic collection!
 And it’s a great cookbook too!

So “Feed your Family, Feed the World!”  The goal is to have this cookbook available in time for the 2010 holiday season and here is how you can help bring fun and food together in classic comic style and deliver hope to someone in need!

Kick-start Webcomics: What’s Cooking? by visiting the project’s Kickstarter site! Kickstarter is a fund-raising site for creative projects such as this one. An initial amount is needed to begin printing this cookbook and you’ll get not only the cookbook
but additional incentives as well!

Pre-order your copy of Webcomics: What’s Cooking?
as each copy pre-ordered helps bring the project closer to print!
You’ll also get it at a cheaper price.
Spread the word! Tell your co-workers, friends, and family about this great project on Facebook, Twitter, and other
social networking sites!
If you’re a website master, you can add these free-to-use banners on your site and link them to the TGT Website!
So help feed yourself, your family, and someone in need this holiday season… and get a few laughs in the process!
All through this great comic cookbook!

For more details on Webcomics: What’s Cooking?

 please visit this site.

Carlo Jose “Caz” San Juan, MD writes and illustrates the Callous comic strip series and is a contributor to the Webcomics: What’s Cooking? cookbook.

Delicious. Nice going to all the participants of this fine project.

Read more »

Bristow Art

Stand Back Folks. 

It's "Mad" Bristow Art.

Bristow

Hello everybody… welcome to my first blog!

My name is Bristow, and I am the creator, artist and writer

of my own comic strip – “Mad Mouse”.

ALL IMAGES CLICK LARGER 

I’m a little uneasy with self-promotion,

but I doubt anyone else would have nice things

to say about me, so here I go.

“Mad Mouse” is a life-long (so far) culmination of what I’ve
 ingested from the comics world. As a boy, I loved
magazines like MAD and Zapped. I was an avid reader of
the newspaper funnies, paperback compilations of B.C. and
 the Wizard Of Id, Archie and Richie Rich comic books.
To me, Lil’ Abner was serious literature and there was
 much more to learn about life from
Zippy The Pinhead than from the Brady Bunch.

 I was never certain that a career drawing comics was for me.
I was a good enough artist, just had no vision for it as a young man.
 I hid behind the pen and paper, really.
The role of class-clown was appropriate - I just preferred
 to remain anonymous and let funny drawings tell all my jokes.
 I was the kid who would draw a cartoon of you doing something silly,
 add a little social commentary, then pin it on the bulletin board
 before class. It was generally accepted as good natured humor…
 okay, most of the time. Boobies on my sister’s paper dolls and
 cartoons of hot dog like people shouting obscenities on
the pages of our Church Hymnals,
 would soon put me on the blacklist. I loved it.

Growing up in Southern Indiana was not conducive
for an aspiring satirical cartoonist. Nobody there,
who was actually looking to hire an artist, shared my love for
 R. Crumb, Bill Griffith or Harvey Kurtzman.
 Commercial Art school was only good for a year and
 creative writing courses at the local college were good for even less.
 So I did what any other intelligent person would do…
I moved to Chicago to make it big as a comedic actor.

Even though drawing took up very little of my time during the

next several years, I believe it was the experiences of

everyday life as a young man, on my own, in the big city

that were forming the foundations for “Mad Mouse”.

I wasn’t aware of that part yet, but when I did begin to sketch again,

 I found that I had not lost my ability to satirize

using two little farm creatures as my spokespigs.

Unfortunately, these two little swine

never made it out of my drawing books.

By the time I had landed-in, burned-out-on, and escaped-from

 Los Angeles, I had found a new desire to create comics

and was working on a character based on a drummer

friend of mine who played under the moniker, “Robnoxious”.

 A couple of these were used in Modern Drummer Magazine

 as advertisements… but nothing else came of it.

Working on these strips, however, was when I really began

 to sink my teeth into the storytelling aspect of cartooning.

 Although I had a lot to learn, I was letting my guard down and

allowing the cartoons to do my talking... albeit, a little bizarre.

Now was the point in the blog where I was going to introduce

how “Mad Mouse” came about, but I thought I would share

 with you a few other –unrelated- works first.

 During my last year living in California, so unsure of which direction

 to take my art in, I took on a tattoo shop apprenticeship.

It was a very interesting life experience. I had the opportunity

 to create some cool flash art and study an entirely different genre,

 but the bloody skin thing…

I also have been known to pencil sketch from time to time,

 but mostly, I find it unsatisfying.

Okay kids… you’ve waited long enough!

Let’s talk about the mouse. Earlier in the blog,

 there were a couple of the strips showing the type of

 situations Mad Mouse regularly finds himself in.

 As the comic has developed, so have the characters

 and storylines, and some episodes are now running for

three to four weeks at a time… and that’s daily!

As you can see, there isn’t space to run the entire story,

 but the first and last strips from that Vegas adventure should

give you an idea of how the trip went for Mad

 and his best pal Trouble Mouse.

I mean, check out how Valentine’s Day ended-up for this poor guy!

“Mad Mouse” really does have it all – if you have a distorted
view of the ways of real life like I do.

Where else would you find the life and times adventures of
a divorced, middle-aged, underachieving,
alcohol and nicotine addicted, human-like rodent
who just can’t seem to get things right despite
 his desperate search for the meaning of it all?
I mentioned his troublesome best friend,
but wait until you meet his teenage, lesbian, daughter
who just moved into his tiny apartment
“just until her band makes it”.
 Or his beautiful, successful girlfriend who is determined
to help him change his ways. And what creature of such
 questionable values would be complete without a conscious…
 in this case that would be Jesus Mouse,
 the omni-present meddling voice of reason.
It’s bound to get interesting.

Well folks, there you have it… for now anyway.
 You can read (and even subscribe) daily to “Mad Mouse”
on Go Comics. There is a site there called Sherpa,
 especially for up and coming cartoon strips and their creators
 looking for syndication, and/or exposure. I am seeking both!
Go to: http://www.comicssherpa.com/ and click on “Mad Mouse”
– either the thumbnail, if a new strip has been uploaded that day,
 or find the title under “See All Comics”.
 Feel free to comment on the strip as well. It’s free to subscribe
 and the numbers could only help in the development of my strip.
Comic books are in the future plans for “Mad Mouse”
 with edition #1 currently being drawn.

I’d like to thank Comic Creators United for
 posting my work on their blog this week.
 They’ve been great and always have something fresh
and very cool to look at. Thanks guys!

If you would like to contact me regarding
“Mad Mouse” you can do so through my artist email:
madbristowart@yahoo.com

A big thanks goes out to you Bristow.
As "Mad Mouse" continues to break new ground,
 CCU can say "we got you at the start".
We're gonna miss that crazy mouse.
 Come back and shake things up again soon.
 We'll follow you to the cheese
 as long as you tell us how to steal it.
 
Mad Mouse can also be found HERE.

Read more »

Kyle Ferrin

What can I say people?

You are in for "...an Extra Precious Experience...".

Kyle Ferrin

I was born in the Great State of Utah around 23 years ago,

and have lived in a town called Farmington for a majority on my life.

 My first introduction to comics was from watching the

X-Men and Batman TV shows on Saturday mornings before

going out to work in the orchard or shovel the snow.

I'm the oldest of eight kids, and as my mom always says,

 "We just didn't know you were anything special
 when it came to art

until you went to kindergarten, because
we had nothing to compare

a 4 year old who could draw Garfield strips from memory to."

(I think my mom still has some of those Garfield drawings.)

I've loved illustration my whole life, and I'm currently going to

 University to get a bachelor's degree in Graphic Design

with an Illustration emphasis. When I'm not doing four times the

 work load of other students, (this is not a joke,

my professors give me extra work so I don't get bored,)

 I'm working from home on social media websites like Twitter.

I LOVE Twitter. You should definitely follow me!

 http://twitter.com/d20plusmodifier

or to get straight to some of the pictures I've posted to twitter,

 then just go here: http://twitpic.com/photos/d20plusmodifier

You may notice from some of those pictures that

I'm a HUGE fantasy nerd in addition to loving comic books.

I play Dungeons and Dragons, and I keep a blog

with mainly just artwork in relation to that great hobby: http://d20machine.blogspot.com/search/label/Illustrations

I'm also a big science-fiction appreciator, and

most other things associated with

the stereotypical nerd are applicable.

 I'm happy to live in a generation where being a nerd is "cool".

 I think I figured out when I first got to high school that if

you are popular in Junior High, you will be greatly outnumbered

by the unpopulars when you move up to high school...

and then be forgotten. Nerd power.

(To give an example, as a senior in highschool,

 I was voted to be "king" in the school Christmas dance. At the time,

 I had braces, a roller backpack,

 rode the bus to school, had a cast on my left arm,

 and was the lead in the school musical. Nerd Power.)

Recently, with the help of one of my Twitter friends,

I got a comic strip website together about my life.

It's called "...an eXtra Precious experience..." and this is the link: http://www.xp.omnivangelist.net/

There's only about five comic strips on there right now,

but I've only had it for 2 weeks, and I'm still working out the kinks.

And yes, I really do have a red-plaid hoodie

that I wear all of the time.

 Extra Precious updates every Monday and Thursday for now,

 but may update more regularly when summer rolls around.

I love doing commissions, and I'm pretty versatile

when it comes to different art styles. When I'm not drawing strictly on

 Adobe Illustrator or Corel Painter,
you can find me watercolor painting

or putting some good old fashioned pencil to paper.

(In fact, some of my favorite work can be found

amidst the notes of my non-art classes.)

I just got a scanner,

 and I will be posting these doodles on another blog called http://qualitydoodles.blogspot.com/

I appreciate Comic Creators United showcasing my work,

and although I'm not as polished an artist with as large a portfolio

as some others, I've got talent, and I think I'm doing pretty good

so far for being a 22 year old who has been married for a

 little more than a year. ;D Thanks for checking out my work!

Good stuff, Kyle.

 "...an eXtra Precious experience..." can't miss.

CCU is proud to have such fine up-and-coming talent on board.

You can create more artwork but, we'll still want more.

Thanks and come back soon. 

Read more »

Christopher Chamberlain: Artwork

Coming Sunday, December, 13th:
  
The Art of: Christopher Chamberlain

Read more »